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AT&T U-verse Live TV – Watch Live TV, On-Demand or Download to your phone!

Posted Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 at 10:48 am by Antonio Wells 0 Comments

User Rating4.50/5

AT&T U-verse Live TV features dozens of channels and hundreds of shows including sports from ESPN Mobile TV, breaking news on MSNBC and FOX News, kids shows and music entertainment. Plus you can select from hundreds of full episodes of your favorite shows to download and store or stream on-demand from top networks like Comedy Central, NBC, ABC, Disney Channel, MTV and many more.

Price: Free app, FREE 7-day trial, then just $9.99/mo

Tested on: Samsung Infuse 4G
Content Rating: Everyone

AndroidTapp.com Android App Review:

Pros & Cons:

Pros

• Watch live TV; shows, movies, sports, and news on your phone!
• On-Demand feature for you to choose to watch content at your discretion!
• Ability to download content to your phone for offline viewing (only over Wi-Fi)!
• Fully functional 7 day trial to determine whether the services are worth it.

Cons

• An additional $10 charge for U-verse customers, should be included.
• Navigating the menus are a bit sluggish.
• I personally would desire toggle for higher quality video over 4G.
• Not compatible with tablets.

Features:

AT&T U-verse Live TV is a live TV streaming app which also allows you to download full episodes to your device for offline viewing. You can stream over cellular 3G & 4G or Wi-Fi. The latter medium automatically produces the highest video quality, whereas over 3G & surprisingly over 4G there is noticeable video quality degradation.

When you select the Live tab, you see channels listed like a TV Guide with the TV shows that are currently playing live on air. One simple tap and you’re off viewing live television on your phone.

Under the On Demand tab are categorized TV shows and movies, of course you drill down to the content you like. Again a simple tap and you’re viewing content on your demand, however, it is segmented and plays the next segment when you reach the end. This also translates into content you download to your phone. Tapping the “down arrow” presents options for you to download the segmented content over only over Wi-Fi, tapping the “i” icon gives options to watch or download the media.

Under the My Media tab lists all the content you saved to your phone to easily play it back.

Gripe alert: Existing U-verse customers cannot simply login and get access to these services on the go. AT&T has the audacity to charge another subscription to these existing customers. This app is not compatible on tablets, which was a big assumption bubble-burst for me personally.

Content is available from more than a dozen channels with literally hundreds of shows to choose from… see the complete list below:

LIVE Channels:

A&E, Lifetime, History Channel & Biography, ESPN Mobile TV, FOX News, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Mobile, Disney Channel, ABC Mobile, FOX Sports, FOX Business, ABC News NOW, Saturday Morning TV, and Comedy Time.

Video on Demand Channels:

ABC Mobile, Backstage Dancing With the Stars, NBC Mobile, FOX News, NBC News, FOX Sports, Univision, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. Nickelodeon en Espanol, TeenNick, ABC Family, Saturday Morning TV!, Comedy Central, Spike, MTV, Vh1, CMT, MTV Tr3s, USA, Mobile by Bravo, SyFy, Oxygen, LOGO, Atom, Comedy Time, Game Trailers, and Access Hollywood.

Music Video Channels:

Hip Hop, R&B Jamz, Top Hits, Countdown, Country, Totally 80’s and 90’s, Hard Rock, Teen Pop, Dance/Electronic, and Latin Hits.

Watch on Mobile

Usefulness:

Personally, I’m one of the early adopters that ‘cut the cord’ more than a year ago. So forward thinking media distribution models like this proves its worth to me when traveling, commuting or on the go. I hate to say it but it is a decent babysitter for hyper kiddies in the back seat, especially if your device is one of many that currently cannot access NetFlix app. The monthly price is not too bad for early adopters as well. I imagine paying $10 bucks a month might not fly well with mass consumers with limited channels plus you cannot stream the same media back to your television, and the danger in the heart existing U-verse customers explained earlier. It will be a matter of time before this type of app is suitable for many with improvements.

Ease of Use:

AT&T U-verse Live TV is really easy to use. From the live channels you can choose the content you want to watch. On demand is like NetFlix allowing you to choose what you want to watch when you want to. Just remember to connect to Wi-Fi if you would like to download TV show or movie content.

Many users in the Android Market have complained of many server errors thus the app would not play. In my evaluation I did not have these issues.

Frequently Used:

I wouldn’t imagine this app be daily used, however, it has the potential if you’re a TV junkie… possibly on a daily commute. I project this app to be occasionally used, but enough to make the paid subscription worth the cost for interested parties.

Interface:

The visual appeal of the user interface is slick, I cannot say the same for navigation transitions and scrolling through content- feels a bit sluggish.

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